Surface-embossed roofing-sheet and the like



J. C. WOODLEY.

SURFACE EMBOSSED ROOFING SHEET AND THE LIKE.

A FILED MAY23 l9] 1,366,146. v I I Patented Jan. 15,1921.

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V V H W///%%////% A umren STATES P TEN'roF Ica;

JAMES C. WOODLEY,' OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

SURFACE-EMBOSSED ROQIEING-SI-LEET AND THE LIKE.

Application filed May as,

various sizes and for various other purposes.

The sheets of my invention are embossed according to a regular and predetermined design which permits economy while giving the product a more attractive appearance than has heretofore been produced, which serves as a means of identification between different brands or qualities, and which has certain other advantages and distinguishing features referred to in detail hereinafter.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of my invention.

Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a sheet;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4; are vertical sections illustrating difierent styles; I

Fig. 5 is a plan of another style. I The bituminous composition roofing of which my product may be made includes specifically the material'described in Woodley Patent No. 1,156,122 andgenerally all other roofing's in sheet, tile or shingle form, which have bituminous or similar surfacing susceptible of being treated as herein. de-

scribed.

It is old in the art when making the socalled rubbenroofings of commerce which ordinarily consist of a dry felt base which has been saturated with waterproofing material, to apply a superficial coating of; bituminous or'other waterproofing material by passing the said sheet through a bath of said waterproofing coating and allowlng as much as desired of said coating to remain on the surface of the sheet, or by applying said coating to one or both surfaces of the sheet and then passingthe coated sheet through squeeze rolls, which remove the surplus coating, In many cases the coating process s done by passing the -saturated sheetbetween two rolls mounted one above the other and allowing the lower roll to revolve in a bath of the surface coating, which roll picks up Some of said coating and applies it to thei Specification of Letters Patent. l ate ted J {ML 18 1921 1917. Serial No. 170,414.

underside. of said sheet; while at the same time, if desired, an additional supply of the surface coating is supplied to the top of the sheet before it reaches the rolls and by the spaclng allowed between the rolls the thickness of the coating on the sheet is regulated. The rolls, if preferred, are sometimes set horizontally in the sameplane with the sheet passing down between t iem from above and the surface coating supplied on one or both sides of the sheet before itpasses between said rolls. Or the coating may be supplied a to the surface in any desired manner, but ord1na r1ly the coated sheet passes between revolving rolls, whlch remove the surplus coating. Ordinarily the consistency of the coating is such thatsome of said coating stlcks to the surface of the coating rolls and in doing so causes the coated surface on saidsheets which are passing away from said coating rolls to have a somewhat roughened surface, which is-often known in the trade as an alligator finish because it resembles somewhat alligator leather; The effect produced in this way is purely an accidental and ordinarily a necessary feature in the process of "coating sheets of composition roofing. In some cases the finished sheets of said composition roofing have been made with a smooth finish or surface by using special means to avoid or eliminate the natural alligator finish, and to prevent the bituminous material from sticking to the rolls.

-For interior wall coverings it has been common to form sheets in hollow relief, that is, with raisedportions on the bottom. Coveringsof this sort have alsobeen provided with a raised pattern made of a differcnt material applied on one surface of the sl1eet. But I do not know of any case in which roofing composition has been used for such purposes or in which even interior wall coverings have been provided with an embossment which is integral with the foundationsheet and which is on one surface only,

with a plain orflat back surface.

And, in the roofing art it is new to treat by intentionally embossing said surface with a predetermined'design. The design produced by thisinvention is repeated at regular intervals in the length of the sheet and is clearly distinguished by its prearranged regular character from the haphazard alligator finish, The predetermin at ionzof the' the surface of bituminous composition sheets k with an accurately controlled relief.

7 may be made in any usual or suitable way.

Methods and apparatus fosthe purpose are described in the Woodley application for Patent No. 10,239, filed February 24, 1915. Speaking generally the method consists in forming the composition into sheets and (either in the forming operation or in a subsequent operation) impressing the design on it while in a plastic condition. The impressing means may be compression rolls with their surfaces formed in the desired design or cloth or other fabric whose design is to be repeated on the sheet. Other methods and apparatus are referred to in detail in the aforesaid application. The impressing of the design on the material while plastic makes the raised portions 'of the deshingles) and the embossment sign absolutely integral with the remainder of the sheet so that these raised portions will be of the same durable material as the remainder of the sheet and even when they wear away there will be no change from one material to another.

It has been proposed to make roofing sheets with elevations pf considerable height by applying additional comparatively thick layers of material 'on tothe sheet already formed, but such a product is more expensive to manufacture and the raised portions have'not the absolutely integral character of the raised portions of my-embossed sheets and they are not intended to and do not produce the appearance of a practically uniform finish which isthe chief characteristic of my improved sheets;

Referring .to the particular designs illustrated, the sheet comprises a body portion A of any usual or suitable thickness on the surface ofwhich is a predetermined design consisting (in Figs. 1 to 4) of depressed square panels B surrounded by raised portions C. The sheet or shingle may be of uniform thickness'as indicated in Fig. 2 or tapered in thickness as in Fig. 3 (the tapered form being especially alpplicable to C may be on only the top face as in Figs. 2 and 3 or on both faces as in Fig. 4. In the latter case the embossment on the bottom has no necessary relation to that on the top. This is indicated by showing it out of register there- 'with, and it may be different in design and proportions. In 5 the design of the embossment are about one-tenth as thick as the remaining solid portion of the sheet. The ordinary roofing sheet is an eighth of an inch or less in thickness, from which consideration the thickness of the embossment is indicated. The design of Fig. 5 may be. made much finer than that of Fig. 1 and with less thickness of the raised portions of the design.

The raised portion of the design in Fig. 1 covers about half the area of the sheet. It gives an increased overall thickness which stiffens the sheet to a greater extent than if the same quantity of material were used in a smooth faced sheet. This quality is useful especially in making shingles which are comparatively thin at one edge and therefore need stiffening. The depressions in the surface of the sheet serve to hold a considerable quantity of the soapstone or other anti-sticking material which is gener- F ally used in the process of manufacture. The embossment is also useful in rendering less conspicuous any variations in color or irregularities in the surface or any bulging or wrinkles which occur during or after the laying of the sheets; these being mere im perfections in appearance which do not necessarily affect the excellence of the sheet or its usefulness, but which nevertheless affect its salability. The uniform character of the design and its comparative smallness are such as to produce rather a certain superficial finish for the sheets than a separate design or separate figures standing. out against a plain background. Asspecific examples of the comparative smallness of the design I refer to three products which I have made, the first embossed in a hexagonal design on both faces, the length of each side of the hexagon being about five-fiftieths of an inch, the second being embossed in a square design with raised lines each about two-fiftieths of an inch in thickness and separated a distance ofeight-fiftieths of an inch between centers and the third embossed in a textile design comprising coarse ridges about six-fiftieths of an inch apart between centers overlaid by fineuridgesfiabout threefiftieths of an inch apart.' This invention is peculiarly applicable to sheets made of the composition described in the aforesaid VVoodley patent, which is a fibrous bituminous composition, the fibers being distributed homogeneously throughout the binder. Sheets of this composition are improved by IOU the stiffening effect of the embossment (as compared with flat sheets containing the same quantity of the composition). And the distribution of the fibers throughout the thickness of the sheet aids in preserving the same, or may be partly above and partly below the surrounding material. The sh'eets may be either in rolls or cut sheets of any size orv may be cut into so-called tiles or shingles and these so-called tiles or shingles decorated in accordance with the present in vention; all these articles being included in the roofing in sheet form to which the invention relates. This class of material, though known commercially as roofing, is used for sidings of temporary buildings and for various other analogous purposes, and my invention is applicable with advantage to all these uses of the. material.

The claims made herein are directed to the product broadly, regardless of the struc ture of the body of the sheet to whichthe embossment is applied and are also directed specifically to such embossed sheets composed of a bituminous binder with fibers distributed homogeneously throughout the entire thickness. The specific improvement which consists in applying such embossment to sheets made of a base with a surface coating or layer of bituminous material is the invention, of Ray P. Perry.

What 'I claim is- 1. Bituminous composition roofing in sheet form having embossed on at least; one of its surfaces a predetermined design repeated continuously at regular intervals, the

' design being so small as to produce the appearance of a practically uniform finish rather than distinct figures on a plain background, the design being impressed onthe sheet while plastic so that the raised portions are integral with the remainder of the sheet and the thickness of the sheet through the raised portion of the design being increased to the extent of the depth of such portions.

2. Bituminous composition roofing in sheet form having embossed on at least one of its surfaces a predetermined design repeated continuously at regular intervals, the design being so small as to produce the appearance of a practically uniform finish rather than distinct figures on a plain background, the design being im ressed on the sheet while plastic so that the raised porsoftened by the tions are integral with the remainder of the sheet and the thickness of the sheet through the raised portion of the designbeing increased to the extent of the depth of such portions, the depth of the embossnient being only a small fraction of the thickness below the embossing.

3. Bituminous composition roofing in sheet form having embossed on at least one of its surfaces a predetermined design repeated continuously at regular intervals, the design being so small as to produce the appearance of a practically uniform finish rather than distinct figures on a plain background, the design being impressed on the sheet while plastic so that the raised portions are integral with the remainder of the sheet and the thickness of the sheet through the raised portion of the design being increased to the extent of the depth of such portions, the raised portions covering not more than about one-half the area and materially increasing the stiffness of the sheet in proportion tothe quantity of material therein.

4. A bituminous composition shingle hav ing embossed on at least one of its surfaces a predetermined design repeated continuously at regular intervals, the design being so small as to produce the appearance the sheet while plastic so that the raised.

portions are integral with the remainder ofthe shingle and the thickness of the shingle through the raised portions of the design being increased to the extent of the depth of such portions.

5. A bituminous composition shingle hav ing embossed on at least one of its surfaces a predetermined design repeated continuously at regular intervals, the design being so small as to produce the appearance of a practically uniform finish rather than sep arate figures standing out against "a plain background, thedesign being impressed on the sheet while plastic so that the raised portions are integral with the remainder of the shingle and the thickness of'the shingle through the raised portions of the design being increased to the extentof the depth of suchportions, said shingle being tapered in thickness but the embossing being of uniform depth throughout. the length of the shingle.

tions are integral with the remainder of the shingle and the thickness of the shingle through the raised portions of the design being increased to the extent of the depth of such portions, said shingle being tapered in thickness but the embossing being of uniform depth throughout the length of the shingle, the raised portions being not more than about one-half the area so as to provide a Considerable stiffness in proportion to the quantity of material.

7. A bituminous composition roofing in sheet form composed of a bituminous binder with fibers distributed homogeneously throughout the entire thickness of the sheet,

' such roofing having embossed on at least one of its surfaces a predetermined design repeated continuously at regular intervals,

- the design being so small as to produce the appearance of a practically uniform finish rather than distinct figures on a plain background, the design being impressed on the sheet While plastic so that the raised portions are integralwith the remainder of the sheet and the thickness of the sheet through the raised portion of the design being in- I creased to theextent'of the depth of such portions.

. ness of the shingle through the raised portions of the design being increased to the extent of the depth of such portions.

9. A shingle made of a composition com-- prising-a bituminous binder and fibers distributed homogeneously and uniformly throughout the thickness of the shingle, said shingle having embossed on at leastone of its surfaces a predetermined design repeated continuously at regular intervals, the design being so small as to produce the appearance of a practically uniform finish rather than separate figures standing out against a plain background, the design being impressed on the sheet While plastic so that the raised portions are integral with the remainder of the shingle and the thickness of the shingle through the raised portions of the design being increased to the extent of the depth of such portions, said shingle being tapered in thickness and the embossment thereon being of uniform depth throughout the length of the shingle.

10. As an article of manufacture, a sheet of roofing material having on its surface integral ridges of predetermined cross-sectional area, said ridges being spaced less than 1 apart.

11. As an article of manufacture, a sheet of waterproof roofing material having on its surface integral ridges of predetermined cross-sectional area,said ridges being spaced less than 1 apart and covering less than 4 of the total area of said surface.

12. As an article of manufacture, a sheet of waterproof roofing material having on at least one side thereof a plurality of intersecting ribs of predetermined cross-sectional area integral with the material on which the ribs are located,. whereby a plurality of pockets of predetermined dimensions are formed said ribs being spaced less than 1" apart.

13. As an article of manufacture, a sheet of roofing material, said material being provided with a plurality of predetermined, depressed portions spaced less than 1" apart for anti-sticking material.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

JAMES C. WOODLEY. 

